Several thousand subsea wells may need to be replaced in the coming years, an oil field services expert said Thursday at the Offshore Technology Conference.

Egil Tveit of FMC Technologies said subsea wells - in which production-control equipment is located on the seafloor - were introduced in the 1970s and became more prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s.

"We're now entering into a phase where we're maturing the industry," Tveit said.

Older generations of subsea wells had a designed life of 15 to 20 years.

Ignoring that lifespan, he said, could be risky from both safety and economic perspectives. A poorly functioning well could become unsafe, and its production capacity could decline.

Tveit encouraged producers to take a proactive approach to addressing the aging infrastructure.

Producers have used subsea well technology in remote areas and in places where harsh weather and strong currents can interfere with production from surface platforms.

- Ryan Holeywell

U.S. commits money to offshore wind power

The federal government is committing nearly $150 million toward construction of three wind farms off the U.S. coast, a move intended to generate power from the renewable source by 2017.

Europe and Asia already have developed wind farms in their waters. But the U.S. has yet to generate a watt despite an offshore wind capacity estimated at 4 million megawatts, which is significantly more than the nation's coal-fired power plants produce.

"We're trying to break the learning curve and hoping to move quicker than Europe," Greg Matzat, senior adviser for offshore wind technologies at the U.S. Energy Department, told an OTC audience.

Europe started with turbines capable of producing 2 to 3 megawatts, Matzat said. But the Energy Department is expecting the newly funded projects to produce 5 or 6 megawatts per turbine.

Grid managers in Texas - which leads the nation in onshore wind power capacity - say 1 megawatt can provide power for about 500 residences under normal conditions.

The demonstration projects, which were announced this week, will be off New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia. Austin-based Baryonyx, which has proposed a wind farm off South Padre Island, did not make the cut.

- Matthew Tresaugue

Safety in the ocean: white with foam

Want to boost safety offshore? Go to the mattresses.

That seems to be part of the answer, according to Dwight Johnston, Shell Oil Co.'s vice president of health, safety and environment.

The company has seen its Gulf injury records decline since it launched a year-old program that aims to improve the quality of life (and beds and food) for workers on its offshore facilities.

The initiative involves employee and contractor Care Councils at every location offshore. The groups meet weekly and talk about how to improve the quality of life offshore, where many workers live for two- and three-week stretches at a time.

"What do you do offshore? You work, you eat, you go to sleep, and every once in a while you watch a movie," Johnston said at an OTC presentation. "So you want to make every one of those the best they can possibly be."

The discussions often focus on food, but other creature comforts come up too.

"I have sat in on discussions where they talk about beds, mattresses. You think that's pretty straightforward - well, all mattresses are not created equal," Johnston said. "If you put a good mattress under a guy that's already only sleeping six or seven hours a night, not only is he going to work better, but he's going to work safer the next day."

So that's what Shell did. Johnston said the company swapped out mattresses at several platforms in the Gulf with foam-based replacements meant to conform to all body shapes and sizes.

The positive results are turning up in the company's injury data. Shell has gone "four straight months without injuring anyone in our workforce," Johnston noted.